Untitled, Shikamaru's Struggle
by AnotherLostChance
Summary: Born into the Nara clan, Shikamaru's freedom to choose to marry for love, is threatened.   Shikamaru has to either accept these terms, or go against them.


**D I S C L A I M E R; **I do not own Naruto. I only own this fanfiction. Enjoy.

After a long day of what seemed endless, and excruciatingly pointless training Shikamaru decided he would rather be cloud watching and signalled to his friend of many years, Choji.

"I have things to attend to" Shikamaru lied sarcastically.

"Is that so? Well.. so do I" with a smirk of understanding Choji walked over to the bench, reaching for his lunch boxes.

No matter what, Shikamaru knew that Choji would always be there to support him, regardless of the situation –not forgetting the fact that he would always offer his best friend his own lunchbox as a compromise for skipping out early.

It was a system that suited the duo. The third member of the former team seven, Ino was either never to be found or flat of her feet busy working at her parents flower store. It was unavoidable that their business had picked up significantly over such a short period of time. The lone fact that most of the flowers being ordered were for the many ninjas who had lost their lives on missions was distressing enough, but at this time Ino had a calm yet sad personality she tended to ignore when on her own missions with her two sidekicks.

Being the smarty-pants he was, there was not much that Shikamaru would miss, even on his days off. He spotted Ino through the front window of the store with her empathy and beautiful sadness shining through. A split moment passed where he considered his options. The first being that he'll approach her, and just bother her about something lame, his way of checking up on his teammate, however within the next single second he had already decided it best not to approach her.

Without any major interruptions he approached his landmark bench, still standing firm and strong. He had to admit the bench was beginning to look a little dull; the color of the wood had begun to fade. _I'll fix you up nice and new one of these days _he thought to himself as he lied back, yawning and admiring the clouds instantly.

This had become his routine. To retreat to his haven, a solitary sanctuary. Where he could free his mind of the constant irritants. Pause the endless problem solving. Void the lingering pain of losing his sensei.

He would lie there.

Still.

Simply staring at the clouds.

Silent.

His face empty of all emotion.

Unchanging.

Overcome with thoughts of what if's and maybe's, he released a nearly unheard sigh. ** "Stop thinking, just for now!"** He ordered himself out-loud. He didn't understand this emptiness. If anything he wanted it gone, and quickly. A slow month had passed since Asuma's death. Within days of the murder, he had outsmarted and then defeated the immortal Akatsuki member Hidan, which gave him momentary freedom of grief. However the lingering of the sadness continued to eat away at him. And this remorse he did not share with anyone. He wanted to deal with it, in his own way and his own time away from the ones closest to him. Shikamaru was no longer a child; he knew that those times were well behind him as soon as he enrolled in the local Ninja Academy.

"Excuse me, eh.. Shika-maru?"

Still lying down on the bench, he moved his head to the right to see a light-blond girl with massive glasses staring back at him.

"Yes that is me. What do you want?" Inner translation:_ Eh? When the heck did she get so close to me? I must have been totally gone for a minute there. Damn you brain! Anyways, better be polite to this girl._

"I just wanted to say that.. I'm sorry for your loss. Asuma was an important man, and will remain one for the future generations of the Leaf village."

-"It's been a long time since his passing. But thank you .. I'm sorry. I don't know your name?"

"I'm Shiho. I.. I hope to see you again.. soon."

"But wai..." _she's already gone! That was bizarre.. how did she know where to find me anyways?_

He looked at the sky which had become a very dark shade of blue, almost black but not quite, and decided to head home for a shower, a feed, and a long sleep. He did not know that at his house things were astir and he would be greeted with these _'things'_ the moment he stepped in the door.

"**NARA SHIKAMARU!"**

"**Where in the world have you been?"**

"I was at..."

"**I told you this morning that you were to return home as soon as you had completed your training!"**

"I.."

"**I know you weren't training because I saw Choji at the supermarket!"**

"..."

"**You get in here before I lose it! Your father has already **_**conveniently **_**gone to the store for some garlic.. which I need in the meal I'm preparing -but that's beside the point!"**

"What do you want mom? I'm tired.."

"**Fine, go shower before dinner is ready, I'll wait for your dad to come home and join in this discussion."**

"But mom.."

"**SHOWER! NOW!"**

With a sigh he escaped to the shower. What did his parents want to nag him about now? Whatever it was, it was never good when Shikaku had to be involved.

...

"I'm done. So what is it? You look as if you're about to kill each other" he didn't bother to hide his sarcasm and was greeted with evil glares from both parents. "What is it?"

"Please sit down honey."

_Honey? What a 180 change of tactic mom! This must be bad!_

"Your dad and I have been discussing your social life son."

"I see." Inner processing: _it's non-existent!_

"We think it's best to tell you that until you are 18, you are allowed to date whomever you want."

"Okay?" Inner processing: _where is this heading?_

"And you're almost 16 years old honey, and we haven't seen you around any girl besides Ino-chan. So what we're trying to say is, once you become 18 you'll be engaged to a suitor. This has been pre-assigned to you, and is a long standing Nara tradition"

"**Wait what?" "But you and dad weren't betrothed, and you two are married!"**

"Honey we were excused. Me and your dad, we made you –against the clan's approval."

"**First of all. Eww! I don't need to know that!** Secondly, shouldn't I be allowed to marry because of _love_?"

"Kind of soft aren't you son?"

"**Shut up dad! I'm being serious." "Why are you dropping this on me now?"**

"Listen honey, whether you like this or not, this is the way things are."

...

The argument lasted a good hour with no reasoning reached which truly infuriated the boy. Sure! He wasn't the dating type and he wanted to settle down and have a few kids, but having the freedom to choose whom he'll spend his life with stolen away from him, was unacceptable. He opted for Choji's house rather than staying at home. **"Why are they so annoying my parent's!"**

Shikamaru knocked loudly on the front door of Choji's house. Choji's dad answered the door and left it open for him to enter. He then ran up to Choji's room.. forgetting to knock.


End file.
